


The No Killing Rule

by g_xlatea



Category: DCU
Genre: Character Study, Killing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26748163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g_xlatea/pseuds/g_xlatea
Summary: Everyone knows thattheBat doesn't kill. But what about the others?ORA bunch of metas thinly veiled as character studies
Kudos: 2





	The No Killing Rule

Bruce is the easiest to explain. He came up with the no killing rule and he follows it stringently. Rigid, unbending. He refuses to kill. That's the simple part. The hard part is explaining why.

He can claim it's about the sanctity of life. Killing is an objective wrong he claims, but he doesn't quite believe it. Oh he believes it a sin to take a life alright, but enforcing the rule separately can't be because of that. Because he may bend other rules as he sees fit, but he has always been of the school that the ends justify the means. So why can saving lives by killing a mass murderer not be justified? Why is it that, as long as there is another option, no matter how undesirable, Batman does not kill?

Is it because violence begets violence? That is a logical argument at times, but his actions are more than capable of begetting violence even without killing. There are more ways to incite wrath than just by death.

Sometimes he'll claim it is so that the GCPD agrees to co-operate with him. The GCPD isn't guaranteed to co-operate with him on a good day. Bruce doesn't quite believe in the system. He believes in Jim Gordon sure, but he doesn't mind, has never minded, if the police turns against him. Besides, they disapprove of enough of his methods as is. So why refuse to kill?

To save his soul.

See, here's the secret. Bruce wants to kill. He wants to kill so badly. He nearly killed the Joker after Jason, international incident be damned. Clark had to step in. When he thought Dick had died, he didn't think twice about shooting Luthor. If Diana hadn't come, he would have found a bullet.

He thinks that some people deserve to die with those who hurt his kids top of the list. If he killed them, he would feel no guilt, no remorse. (And that's what frightens him).

Bruce hates. He hates deeply and the feeling curls around his ribcage suffocating him. It's an ugly thing. Maybe it's because in the alleyway, before he mourned his parents loss, he hated the mugger for holding them up, frightening them. Maybe it's because he never got vengeance. Vengeance. Batman was created to punish criminals first and foremost and that lends itself unfortunately well to hatred.

When Bruce says he can't cross than line, he's not making some righteous statement. There is no killing just the Joker for him. If he kills once, he will kill again and he knows himself well enough to realise this. If he goes far enough, he will be hurting innocents. So he draws the line on the sand and treats it like an iron wall.

The other reasons aren't false. He believes them too. But they aren't enough for that ironclad resolve. It is the fear of damning both himself and his city that keeps him in line.


End file.
